now, i have a dog. he's adorable. his name is atlas. there he is. he will not be dressing up. i will not be giving him candy. i will not be giving him costume. he will greet the trick or treaters as most dogs should. but you know what, spend. it's good for the economy. if you love it, that's all that matters. thank you for joining. tonight, game on. the new mitt romney now in the lead. a confident candidate, a major speech. >> i know the president hopes for a safer, freer and more prosperous middle east but hope is not a strategy. >> plus, neck and neck. sometimes it is about the horse race. to the man who arguably knows more than anyone about what the numbers in this race mean, nate silver. and battleground america. is romney gaining ground with female voters? women on the left and right go toe to toe. also, worldwide exclusive. what you haven't heard about the man who shot trayvon martin, the first television interview with george zimmerman's mother.

why he says there's more to the story. >> he said you will die tomorrow. i grabbed my firearm and shot him. >> this is "piers morgan tonight." good evening. with just 29 days to go until the election, our big story tonight, mitt romney takes that post-debate bounce and boy, does he run with it. the latest pew poll conducted after last week's debate puts romney firmly in the lead of president obama, 49 to 45. in the same poll in september, the president had a 51-43 lead. romney seems to be gaining ground with women. in a moment, i will ask polling guru nate silver what it all really means. meantime, a newly energized candidate romney is wasting no time pressing his advantage, today hitting the president with tough talk on foreign policy, including the deadly attack on americans in libya. >> this latest assault can't be blamed on a reprehensible video insulting islam, despite the administration's attempts to convince us of that for so long.

no, as the administration has finally conceded, these attacks were the deliberate work of terrorists who use violence to impose their dark ideology on others, especially on women and girls who are fighting to control much of the middle east today and who seek to wage perpetual war on the west. >> joining me now, a man who knows quite a lot about mitt romney's views on all this, norm coleman, advisor to the romney campaign on foreign policy and former senator from minnesota. welcome to you, senator. >> piers, great to be with you today. >> let's start with this extraordinary poll today. the pew poll showing that your man, mitt romney, has sawed into the lead and quite comfortably. what do you make of that? >> well, certainly the debate was a defining moment in this campaign, but i think it's pretty simple. mitt romney has a plan, has a plan to grow jobs, he articulated a plan today for strong american foreign policy and the president doesn't have a plan, doesn't have a record. when you don't have a record, you don't have a plan, you go against somebody who has a record of building jobs and has

a plan, i think you're seeing what you're seeing in the pew poll. >> one of the most extraordinary parts of the pew poll, if you look at sort of the detail, is the 18 point swing with women voters. he was 18 points behind, it's now level with barack obama. i was actually watching mitt romney speaking in the rain earlier this afternoon and some of the women around me were sort of visibly going weak at the knees, calling him heroic. calling him, this guy suddenly they're seeing in a totally different light. do you think the debate performance has actually carried weight with women generally? >> i think two observations on that, piers. one, he was -- there was so much money spent defining him as this caricature, unthinking, unfeeling caricature and the american public, over 60 million people, got to see him at the debate, see this guy has a heart, he really cares, cares about their families and even on the campaign trail, i think the governor has kind of lightened up a little bit. he's very shy about talking about himself but he now is talking about the things that

he's done to touch people's lives, to impact people's lives. so he's had hundreds of millions of dollars spent tearing him apart, characterizing him in a way that isn't him and the american public got to see him in that debate. they got to see a man with heart and with soul and with a plan, with a vision, and with the ability to get things done. i think that had a perceptible impact on what we're seeing in the polls today, is a reflection of that. >> let's turn to your specialty, foreign policy. you made a big foreign policy speech today clearly trying to deal with the fact that most people assume he's a bit weak in that area. i guess my overview when i read the context of his speech was where is he really that different to barack obama? can you articulate for me exactly what the key difference would be, if he became president? >> a number of key differences. key differences -- first of all, let me kind of start in big picture and then narrow in. this campaign should be about big issues. it should be about the american economy. it should be about rebuilding that, rebuilding the american military. american values. what we're seeing with this

president for four years is a weakening of the economy, weakening of the military and weakening across the board in foreign policy. tell me the place in the world where america today is more respected or safer and secure than we were four years ago. certainly not in syria, certainly not with iran getting a nuclear weapon, certainly not -- >> hang on. hang on. hang on. let me stop you in your tracks. actually, i wod say one of the things that barack obama has done incredibly successfully is restore a lot of america's very damaged reputation around the world, since the eight years of george bush and all the warfare that came with it. i would seriously question that. i've traveled a lot through europe and so on. there's a lot of respect for america that certainly wasn't there six, seven years ago. >> the question is not whether -- it's always safer and secure. is the situation in the middle east today better than it was four years ago? is it better in iran? >> hang on. again, let me question you. no, no, no. i'm not going to let you get away with that.

let's be pragmatic and sensible about what you just said. the reality is bin laden is dead. he was alive four years ago. gadhafi was alive four years ago. mubarak was ruling egypt four years ago. many people would argue however difficult the situation is in the middle east right now, it's very complicated and very difficult, but actually, yes, america probably is better off knowing that those three are no longer ruling their countries, and in bin laden's case, al qaeda. >> and so american embassy is attacked on the anniversary of -- let me step back. we applaud that osama bin laden is dead. strategic -- but tactical strikes taking out terrorist leaders does not overcome for a lack of strategy to provide greater stability. piers, i say respectfully, the middle east is not more secure today than it was four years ago. egypt is not a better place than it was four years ago. syria is a mess. >> presumably you would like to see -- would you like to see mubarak -- hang on. you can't just talk and throw these things out.

presumably in that case, would you want mubarak and gadhafi if they were still around to go back and take over again? where would you go with this threat? >> well, what i would want and what we didn't have and what we don't have is i'd like to have a strategy. mubarak and egypt's place, what we did, we pulled back substantially pulled back, piers, from aid, from aid, democracy forces. i serve on the board of national endowment for democracy, substantially cut back. we had no ears on the ground. we had an election process that then moved forward without the forces of democracy having a chance to mobilize so what were you left with? left with the muslim brotherhood. it's not about whether mubarak should be there. it's what strategically -- you cited tactical things the president has done. god bless him, it's a wonderful thing, osama bin laden is dead. but there has not been a strategy and the result of it is that you've got a problem with what's happening in egypt.

when you ask, let me get back to the question you asked about differences. i articulated just a few. first of all, in syria, we would have worked with and should be working with what i call the relevant forces of relevancy in that region, the turks, the emirates, i would bring the brits and french and germans in. this president hasn't done that. great article in the "new york times" yesterday. take a look at it. syrian opposition leaders saying they have been abandoned, by the west, particularly by the united states, sitting on the sideline. the result is the syrians are being radicalized. the forces of extremism are taking over. it's the failure of america to lead, failure to bring folks together. failure to be a player in that region that has caused us to be in a situation now where in egypt the leadership is one that is not clear they are going to enforce their treaties with israel, are they going to be working to make sure that israel isn't subject to greater terrorist attacks from across the border. in syria, it's a mess. iraq is a mess. iran is much closer to nuclear weapons. yeah, let's take a look where we were, the lack of a strategy, lack of a strategic approach has

caused this president, whatever his policies were in the middle east, i can't tell you what the strategy was but it's certainly a mess. >> thank you very much. for the other side, congressman adam smith, ranking member of the house armed services committee. welcome to you. >> thank you for having me on. i appreciate the chance. >> that was quite a lively exchange there. mitt romney is coming out today trying to position himself as the more presidential leader in terms of foreign policy than barack obama, saying obama has been weak. this is obviously a very arguable point. what would you say to that? >> i think the most interesting thing about governor romney is not just this speech but his entire foreign policy approach, is the complete absence of specifics and we even heard that from former senator coleman there so he's upset about the situation in syria. i didn't hear governor romney advocate that we intervene in syria. i happen to think that would be a mistake. in iran, all he called for was the exact sanctions that president obama is implementing.

look, the president has had a very strong record. you pointed out many of the aspects of that. certainly the death of osama bin laden is the most important, but it's not just that. we've contained al qaeda by being aggressive, but at the same time, we've worked with the rest of the world to enforce sanctions on iran and yes, we are working with turkey and all those other countries, trying to deal with the situation in syria. i think the mistake governor romney makes is to assume that there's some magic wand to fix all these problems. president obama's had a clear strategy. governor romney has offered no specific ideas that i've heard that differ from obama or in some instances, even any specific ideas at all. >> having said that, the criticism against the president is this. by doing this kind of leading from behind strategy that he's adopted, that it lends itself to a sense that america is no longer a truly dominant world power, that it's happy for others to take the lead. it creates a kind of vacuum which could be filled by

undesirable people. >> well, that entire argument is based on a myth and that myth is that at some point in the past, the u.s. was able to simply snap its fingers or flex its muscles and force the world to its will. that has never been the case. i think it's really dangerous to consider the prospects of having a president of the united states who imagines that it is the case. we have to work with other countries to get forward and move forward. we can't just go into libya or syria or egypt or any of these places, walk in there and say you have to do exactly what we want. if mitt romney truly believes that, then i shudder to think how many places he's going to try to commit our u.s. military in the mistaken belief that they can force their will upon the rest of the world. that's just not the way it works. let's take afghanistan. what is governor romney's policy on afghanistan? he hasn't said it except to state again that we need to show strength. does that mean that we need more troops in afghanistan for a longer period of time?

i think that would be a horrible mistake. >> i agree -- >> president obama has the right policy. >> rather like his tax policies, the devil in the detail has not emerged yet. we look forward to hearing that. what i want to play you is a clip from "saturday night live" showing president obama onstage in denver. let's watch this. >> excuse me, governor. mr. president? >> i'm sorry, yeah. yeah. what's up? >> mr. president, governor romney has just said that he killed osama bin laden. would you care to respond? >> no, you two go ahead. >> it was a fairly dismal performance, wasn't it. as a result the polls are quite shocking today. this pew poll, there's been a swing from september 12th to 16th, it's gone from 51% to 43% in obama's favor to 49% to 45% in romney's favor. this is catastrophic, isn't it? >> it's not catastrophic. it's a poll. but look, there's no secret, the president didn't have a good

debate performance. we have got to get out there, all democrats, all people who support president obama, and aggressively make the case because on the substance of economic policy, we have the better plan. look, all mitt romney wants to do is go back to the plan that got us into this economic catastrophe in the first place. i do agree, the president should have been stronger, should have gone back on mitt romney when he said some of the things that he said, but one debate does not change the policies. the policies are, our economy faces a better future with president obama than mitt romney. he wants to go back to the same tax cut, deregulation, top down trickle down economics that failed us so miserably in the past. on foreign policy, you know, either he has no plan or he simply wants to show strength which can lead to all kinds of calamities again just like we have in the past. i think president obama's got the better message, the better economic message, the better foreign policy message and yes, we need to deliver it a lot better than he did at that debate. there's no question about that.

but the substance, what's actually going to impact the american people, that's where president obama has the advantage. we just need to make that case. >> congressman, thank you very much. >> thank you, piers. i appreciate the chance. we've heard from politicians on both sides. coming up, the one man who may really know what this means for the election, nate silver. [ male announcer ] what if you had thermal night-vision goggles,

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when our u.s. diplomat were attacked in libya, the romney campaign says our knee-jerk response showed an extraordinary lack of presidential character. those remarks were the worst possible reaction to what happened. if this is how he handles the world now, just think how mitt romney would do as president. how bad are these numbers really for the president? how good are they really for mitt romney? joining me now, the man who surely knows all the answers, nate silver, the numbers guy behind the 538 blog and the author of "the signal and the noise." welcome back, nate. your last confident prediction was obama's going to walk this. what happened?

>> well -- >> looks like mitt romney's surging ahead. pew poll, 49% to 45%. are you correcting your prediction? >> we always update our numbers in real time and what happened was denver, where i think you had the president behaving as though he had a 14 point lead and not a four point lead and that tends to -- you kind of create your own nightmare sometimes if you do act overconfident about where you stand in the race. at the same time, i'm not sure i would look at this pew poll alone without the broader context of data. we've seen some other polls today, for example the gallup tracking polls move slightly toward obama so right now it's close enough that you will have some polls showing a lead for either candidate and that makes it more dramatic and makes for big headlines but we think the consensus of data shows that will probably settle into being a very narrow lead for president obama, probably one or two points on average, that is an educated guess. >> one of the most interesting aspects of this poll was the 18 point lead in the pew showed

that romney had with women has evaporated. obama by comparison who had been joyously messianic as a speaker -- >> the nonverbal communication. if you watched that debate with the sound off it looked like a more compelling win for romney than if you read the transcript where obama was looking away, looked like his heart wasn't in it. that means if he gives a more spirited performance in the next two debates, he could regain some ground. there are really two questions. >> if he can win round the women, how significant is that to his chances of winning the election? >> if romney can? >> yes. >> sure. >> 18 point swing in one poll is huge. >> if we were to see that number confirmed by other poll, romney would be the favorite but it's not what we're seeing in the bulk of data. sometimes there can be a tendency to take a big headline number, when we're getting 15 or

20 polls released. if romney is doing that well among women, we will see the result confirmed by other polls quite soon. >> his people also believe that he did well from the debate independents, men, the elderly in particular. that's what their own internal polling is showing. would you agree with that? >> in the debate he was able to reposition himself toward the center of the electorate. last time we talked about, this is something very strange where romney has been playing to the base, even to some extent at his convention, he was doing that. but he shifted towards the center and obama was a little bit feeble in trying to rebut that. that's an important factor. historically candidates who can appear to be in the middle of the electorate tend to win and those on the wings tend to lose. that was a big strategic gain romney made. he was seen as more presidential and acceptable. that stuff will last, i think some of his immediate bounce will fade. >> i know you are brilliant on these numbers but i don't think you're factoring in something that can't be quantified by numbers, called momentum.

i come at this as a journalist watching mitt romney surging in confidence and he's got momentum behind him. barack obama is the opposite. he's gone from being super maybe cocky, a bit complacent, he's now looking a bit deflated. he's got to come back. if mitt romney wins the last two debates -- >> oh, sure it's close enough that obama cannot afford to have two more performances like he did in denver. there is such a thing as momentum, it can be based on the narrative people are telling about the race. remember how much momentum obama had before the debate after the 47% tape and the convention. if anything, you want to bet on the race reverting back to the long term average. >> what the debate showed me was just how important the television power can be for the selection because the 47% scandal, as it was really, should have brought him down, really, mitt romney.

it was so awful. you could have thought in previous election campaigns that could have been the game changer. looking at it now in totality, barack obama's poor performance at the debate has been more damaging to him than the 47% was to mitt romney. >> i think potentially. look, the debate was watched by 70 million people which is a lot more than the 47% tape. so a lot of good momentum that obama had in september was undone in an hour and a half. that was a very damaging evening for the president. at the same time, it's not likely we will talk about the denver debate as a lead story one or two weeks from now. something new will take its place. maybe it's a good story for obama, maybe not. but voters' memories will fade some. that's why we do look at the long term and also the economic numbers where obama did get one good piece of news where with the unemployment rate falling below 8%. we now think the economy's good enough where he's probably a narrow favorite on that basis. the numbers look similar to -- >> donald trump and jack welch say those numbers are all a lot of monkey babble.

>> there's a tendency. i saw some democrats in my twitter feed complaining about the pew poll when they were lauding it when they had obama up by seven. we have a tendency to get rid of data we don't like. i try to look at what all the polls say and you see some where romney has a gigantic balance, some where you haven't seen much of a bounce at all. >> you tweeted today, barack obama went from a huge favorite at 1:00 p.m. to a huge underdog at 4:00 p.m. get a grip, people. >> 1:00, the gallup poll came out and showed obama improving, up the five point lead from three before. then the pew poll came out showing this huge shift toward romney. those are both really good polls. >> the key thing is what mitt romney did in denver, he didn't blow it. had he done the performance that barack obama did, it could have been all over by now. and it isn't. game on. good to see you again. >> thank you. >> coming up, mitt romney's unexpected surge with female voters. are women abandoning the president and turning to mitt romney? i will ask top women on the

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i know the president hopes for a safer, freer and more prosperous middle east, allied with us. i share this hope. but hope is not a strategy. we can't support our friends and defeat our enemies in the middle east when our words are not backed up by deeds. >> mitt romney taking aim at the president today on foreign policy. but the big news of the day may just be candidate romney's surprising surge with female voters. joining me now two women who are likely to be an odds-on, maria cardona and kristen soltis. welcome to you ladies. >> thank you, piers. good to be here. >> let's start with you, maria. i would imagine that although all the clear evidence points to women surging to mitt romney, you're not one of them. >> i am not one of them, piers. look, i'll say this. i'll say the same thing tonight that i have said when the president was up by a considerable amount with women, and when he was up with polls in general, and that is that a poll is just a snapshot of the

moment. in this very close election, polls will be volatile, especially after last week's debate. but i think that what we need to take into consideration is what is going to happen from here on out. i guarantee you, piers, that democrats are going to continue delivering the message about mitt romney and the gop -- >> here's the problem. here's the problem. >> -- and the party that is not good for women. >> we all know what the message is. the problem is the guy has to deliver it on those stages for the debate. he blew it big time and the problem for him is that he had boxed in mitt romney to be this boring guy that was a ceo, all he was ever good at was business, no personality. that was the whole message banged on by you democrats. suddenly we saw a guy who by comparison to ironically the boring guy in the president onstage, we saw a rather charismatic mitt romney seizing his moment, showing leadership. whether you agree with what he was saying or not, and a lot of

what he said is certainly open to conjecture, he definitely showed personality. that's why i think women have softened towards him. if that continues as a trend, that is a problem for the president. >> yes. if that continues, piers. but you're right, it was just one night. it was a one night impression. the election is not tomorrow. that's exactly my point. there are many days left, including two additional presidential debates, where the president can continue to deliver that message and to make the case, because i will continue to say what i said on your program last week. it's going to take a lot more than a debate that lasted less than two hours to change the overall perception for good of something that romney and the gop have been basically ingrained in women's minds for two years. >> let's go to kristen. you must be jubilant at these poll numbers today but in reality, can they hold and what is going on with women voters here, do you think? >> i don't think it's about personality as you said earlier. i think it's about something a little bit deeper than that. what you saw earlier this year is you did see obama with the

lead among women voters. but it wasn't solid. i think that women were really looking for someone to give them an answer to the question, who's going to fix this economy. who's going to turn this around. and even through the conventions, obama was still sort of, you know, had a slight edge there. i think what mitt romney did in that debate was he showed that he's got an answer to that question. he's got a confident sort of strong answer to that question and i think he gave people who were watching reason to believe that he would be a good steward, a good captain of the ship to sort of navigate us out of the stormy world that we're in. i think that is really why you're seeing this movement in all of these polls and why you've seen groups like women, you know, his numbers have improved with them. >> let's just turn to foreign policy. i will stick with you to start with, because mitt romney's come out today basically said look, everything barack obama is doing on the foreign stage is totally useless but it seemed to me everything he was suggesting sounded very similar to what barack obama's been doing. whether it's syria or iran or whatever. i mean, what exactly is mitt romney suggesting he's going to do?

is he going to commit loads more american troops to these areas? because if he's not, isn't he just talking a lot of hot air? >> i think it's less about the differences in what goals, or ultimate vision the two men have, it's a difference in how they would execute them. what romney's position seemed to be is obama's talked a big game but hasn't really executed on it so you've got the middle -- >> but he has, hasn't he? whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. i had this argument earlier with a senator. i said to him he literally has executed it. he executed gadhafi, bin laden. he hasn't stopped executing people. and whether you think the middle -- >> do you think that we're safer now? >> yes. >> it's true that osama bin laden was killed -- >> do i think america is safer without osama bin laden or gadhafi or any of these despots, absolutely i do. >> but we're seeing that we've just had a situation where an ambassador was killed and we were told for about a week that it was because of a movie on youtube? that doesn't fill me with a lot of confidence. i think that's what a lot of

this is about. it's about okay, we're going to be strong. we are going to put action behind our words instead of just saying i hope that we'll be nice and maybe they'll like us. >> okay. let's turn to maria again. apparently we have got to be strong. what does that mean? >> look, i think mitt romney's foreign policy can be described like this. a whole lot of bluster, a whole lot of blunder, and not a whole lot of there, there. because you're right, everything that he talked about today in terms of what he would do, we don't know what he would do differently than what president obama has been doing quite successfully, i would add, in terms of foreign policy. he goes abroad, he insults england, in the debate last week he insulted spain, he talks about how he would throw in the white flag of surrender for a two-state solution to israel, and he just doesn't know what he would do differently and has not been able to communicate that. he talks about russia as being our number one political foe. let's ask al qaeda if they think that obama is leading from behind, which is one of the things that romney loves to talk

about the president on. >> to be fair -- >> he's not leading from behind. >> that's pretty much what obama said about himself. you can blame him for that. ladies, we will leave it there now. one thing for sure, today got very, very interesting. i think we will be talking again before too long. thank you both for joining me. breaking news tonight on the penn state scandal on the eve of jerry sandusky's sentencing. the convicted pedophile and former defensive coordinator is speaking out from jail. he was convicted in june of sexually abusing ten boys over 15 years and tomorrow, he will find out whether he'll spend the rest of his life behind bars. but today, in an extraordinary move, sandusky released a statement in his own words which aired on penn state radio. he denies the abuse, blames the victims and proclaims his love for his wife. you've really got to hear this. to even try and believe it. >> in my heart, i know i did not do these alleged disgusting acts. my wife has been my only sex partner and that was after marriage. our love continues. the young man whose dramatic,

veteran accuser and always sought attention started everything. he was joined by a well orchestrated effort of the media, investigators, the system, penn state, psychologists, civil attorneys and other accusers. they won. i've wondered what they really won. attention, financial gain, prestige, will all be temporary. >> and on and on he whines in similar vein. frankly, that's enough for me. i don't have the stomach for any more of this and i'm sure you didn't either. sandusky was convicted of hideous disgusting crimes against young children. tomorrow he will be sentenced. after that, i don't think any of us ever need to hear another word from jerry sandusky again. coming up, she's asked us to keep her in the shadows to protect her identity. the mother of the man who shot trayvon martin finally breaks the silence and talked to me exclusively. gladys zimmerman joins me next. my main message is to the parents of trayvon martin. you know, if i had a son, he would look like trayvon and you

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my main message is to the parents of trayvon martin. you know, if i had a son, he would look like trayvon and you know, i think they are right to expect that all of us as americans are going to take this

with the seriousness it deserves and that we're going to get to the bottom of exactly what happened. >> reaction to the trayvon martin case reached all the way to the white house. tonight for the first time, george zimmerman's mother tells me what she knows about her son and what may have happened the night trayvon martin was shot. gladys zimmerman joins me now exclusively along with george's brother, robert, who has been one of my guests before. welcome to you both. gladys, you asked us to keep your face in shadows to protect your identity and we respect that. i'm aware that you haven't given any interviews before. why do you want to talk out now? >> i feel that it's about time, the time that all this commotion was happening, we were forced to leave our home. we were forced to just disappear and because of the death threats

that we were getting, it was very dangerous for us even to think about to come to defend our son. >> tell me, gladys, when you think back to that night that trayvon martin was killed and you first discovered that george had fired the gun that killed him, how did you feel as his mother? what went through your mind in that moment? >> at that moment it felt like i couldn't believe what had happened. i felt that -- that the world had turned upside down. to me it was like a nightmare. i just couldn't -- just couldn't believe what had happened. to me it was unbelievable. i was very sad. i was very sad for my son and for the person who had departed. very, very sad.

>> so many lives have been affected and ruined by what's happened here. obviously george is facing a murder trial now if he's convicted, he may face 25, 30 years in prison. have you come to grips with that possibility? >> i'm sorry? i didn't understand your question? >> have you come to terms with the possibility that george may go to prison for 25 or 30 years if he's found guilty? >> i believe in the judicial system. i believe from the beginning that, you know, he is innocent, and i mean, the media had played a big role against my son. they had portrayed him in a bad -- bad picture. but there is justice in america,

and i believe in justice. >> do you as his mother, do you wish that george had never gone out carrying a gun that evening? >> mr. morgan, there are so many things that we can wish as parents, but i will not answer to that question because i don't want, you know, people to elaborate of what, you know, the mother has said. >> if you had the chance, gladys, to talk to trayvon martin's parents, what would you say to them? >> it was already said by a statement that my son had made public. >> but i mean, how would you phrase it? what would you say as a mother to another mother who had lost her son? >> that i'm deeply sorry for what had happened.

it is a tremendous tragedy for both families. i'm very sorry for the loss of their son. >> let me just ask robert quickly. robert, you obviously as a family, it's been hellish for you as well and to say otherwise is to ignore the reality of your situation. you weren't there on the night, nor was your mother. how is george doing now, how is he coping with incarceration, how is he coping with the impending trial? >> he's not incarcerated right now. he's released. the order requires that he stay in the county. >> how free is he to go about? >> that's right, that's exactly right, it is restrictive. he's free in one sense that he can meet with his attorneys. it's important that he participates in his defense and that he contributes any way that he can, but in a word, george would be recovering. he was diagnosed with ptsd. i told you that in march. among other things that i told you, such as his injuries that

appeared to you to not exist. based on that videotape that abc released, based on a lot of things people were releasing and saying that have now proven not to be true. he's recovering from the world turning against him, the media barrage that convicted him ahead of time, and he hasn't been convicted of any crime. i think that's a very hard reality to face every day for him. >> let's take a short break. we will come back and talk more to you and to your mother, gladys. i want to talk really about what life is like for you as the family of one of the most notorious figures in america right now. the death threats you've had and so on and how you are dealing ( bell rings ) they remind me so much of my grandkids.

wish i saw mine more often, but they live so far away. i've been thinking about moving in with my daughter and her family. it's been pretty tough since jack passed away. it's a good thing you had life insurance through the colonial penn program. you're right. it was affordable, and we were guaranteed acceptance. guaranteed acceptance? it means you can't be turned down because of your health. you don't have to take a physical or answer any health questions. they don't care about your aches and pains. well, how do you know? did you speak to alex trebek? because i have a policy myself. it costs just $9.95 a month per unit. it's perfect for my budget. my rate will never go up. and my coverage will never go down because of my age. affordable coverage and guaranteed acceptance? we should give them a call.

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hello. this is george zimmerman. first and foremost, i want to thank you all for visiting the real george zimmerman.com. we relaunched this website to once again thank you, my supporters, my intention was and still is to personally and individually thank you all. however, i wanted to take this opportunity to thank you, the masses. >> george zimmerman thanking his supporters. his mother, gladys has asked us to keep her face shadowed to

protect her identity. let me ask you a difficult question, gladys. if the situation had been reversed, if it had been george who was going back to visit a family relative, having gone to a store who was unarmed and he got into an altercation with somebody, trayvon martin, for arguments sake, and trayvon martin had produced a gun and shot your son dead, do you think you would feel differently about what happened? >> mr. morgan, i don't want to touch anything that has to do directly with the case. it's very important for me as a mother not to touch for the

sanctity of the case, the prosecution and the defense, that i would rather not talk about anything that will affect the case. i would rather like to talk about my son. >> yeah, tell me this -- i understand, and i respect you can't talk about the case. let me ask you about george. what is the most annoying misconception that you keep having to hear or read about your son? because some people see him as this brutal killer, a racist, somebody who -- you know, abused his ex-girlfriend and so on. a lot of this must be hurtful to you as his mother. what are the things that have really upset you? >> the most? that he was called racist. the most. you know, that is something that people who didn't know george and who did know george didn't bother to come up front and say,

no, he's not racist. let me mention the case of mr. sherman weir. he was beaten and hit left unconscious on the pavement by a young man. now, this mr. weir because he was homeless or because he was african-american, nobody defended him except my season. my son took the time to elaborate and to go and make flyers and go to churches. african-american churches, leave flyers on every car, stay there for every church session and pass flyers and get the community together to go to a council meeting back in 2011.

>> i mean, we have heard stories like this about george. and certainly many members of his family and friends have rushed to say, he's not a racist. it doesn't mean necessarily he didn't in some way perhaps subliminally racially profile trayvon martin. he saw a young black boy in an area where there had been burglaries, he didn't think the worst. we may never know the case to that. on a wider point. do you think that regardless of what happens in this case, would you like to see tougher gun control laws in america? >> it is hard to tell. i'm not into a study for that law, but i have to tell you that there's more people being killed

by guns where the state had regulation for gun control. that's what i have learned. right now, i'm not in the position to say, you know, oh, yeah, let's do this, let's do that with gun control. i'm sorry, my head is some place else. >> i understand, we have to leave it there. thank you for joining me. it's taken a lot of courage on your part to do this. i appreciate you joining me too. coming up next, only in america. with no back pain. i can adjust it if i need to...if my back's a little more sore. and by the time i get up in the morning, i feel great! if you have back pain, toss and turn at night or

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tonight's only in america, another gun senselessly takes a life. at 1:23 a.m. on saturday, for reasons unknown,' peered make id at the campus police station and began banging loudly. an altercation ensued. >> the man repeatedly rushed toward the police officer and verbally challenged the officer in a halting stance. the officer tried to calm the situation. the individual ten continued to

press toward the officer in a threatening manner. >> gilbert was 5'7" and weighed just 135 pounds, because he was make ed, it was obvious he was unarmed. the officer apparently concluded the only course of action to him was to pull out his gun and shoot gilbert colin dead with a single bullet to his chest. his friends are understandably upset and angry about what happened as are his classmates. >> he's not the kind of guy that people knew him and said he would do something like this. >> there are lots of unanswered questions in this case. i don't know if gilbert was intoxicated or suffering some sort of drugs or a mental breakdown. >> a naked 135 pound 18-year-old college freshman does not pose a sufficient risk to the police officer, that justified being